Cuban families have returned to coal and wood to cook a meal, and the work week in most places is four days. Universities hold live lectures less and less, there is no one at the bus stops - because the buses simply don't run.
Everything is slowly coming to a halt. cube, due to the deep energy crisis caused by the oil blockade, created directly by Donald Trump.
"Cuba's days are numbered," Trump said, explaining that he had denied Cuba about 40.000 barrels of black gold, which the country used to receive from Venezuela, because Hamas terrorists are allegedly hiding in Cuba. He did not provide any evidence for such claims.
Emergency plan
The country has plunged into the biggest oil crisis in the last few decades, especially since Trump also threatened anyone who would step in and give Cuba oil, like Mexico. He directly threatened them with sanctions, so they also withdrew. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel initially called the measures "fascist, criminal and genocidal."
The Cuban government recently unveiled emergency measures designed to protect the country's basic operations and rationalize fuel supplies for key sectors. The management has warned that international airlines will no longer be able to refuel the country due to the ongoing shortage of jet fuel.
Air Canada subsequently canceled all flights to the island, although the airline said it would repatriate about 3.000 passengers already in the country in the coming days.
The Russians have called.
Although many media outlets write that Cuba can function in this way for less than a month, Russia only reported later to say that they are actively considering what kind of help they can offer to Cuba amid the worsening energy crisis.
Russia is expected to supply Cuba with oil as part of a "humanitarian strategy", pro-government newspaper Izvestia reported. The Russian Embassy in Cuba told Izvestia that "as far as they know, it is expected that Russia will supply Cuba with oil and oil derivatives as humanitarian aid in the near future."
He has no hope.
"Trump is crazy - he wants to take away the air we can breathe at any cost. And the other one is even more fanatical when it comes to Cuba," said Aleida from Havana to Deutsche says, alluding to US Secretary of State of Cuban origin Marco Rubio. He is considered one of the main advocates of the "maximum pressure" policy on Venezuela and Cuba. "We're just waiting to see what else happens," Aleida says, visibly worried.
"Sometimes I think Trump will attack us, and sometimes he won't let us sink so he can present himself as a savior," says Rachel, a 21-year-old employee from the Cuban capital, adding that she expects daily life to become even more difficult.
"Trump is hurting us ordinary people, not the government," says Ramon. The 60-year-old works as a taxi driver and lives off tourism - which further declined last year. Gasoline can now be obtained only for foreign currency and after several hours of waiting in lines at the so-called "dollar pumps". Power outages of ten to 15 hours a day have become common in Havana as well. The country currently produces only about 40 percent of the electricity it needs. Still, despite Trump's tariff threats, life in Havana seems to be going on.
This is also confirmed by Bert Hoffmann for Deutsche Welle, a leading researcher at the German GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies, who is currently in Havana. "There is a lot of anticipation. We live in a kind of 'crisis normality' - life goes on. Power outages are more frequent, gasoline is scarcer, but everything is gradually getting worse. There is still traffic on the streets," says Hoffman. However, it is a deceptive normality, because the country "does not have any prospect of getting oil".
Contacts are not negotiations.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has also offered to mediate possible talks between Washington and Havana, although it is not at all clear what would be negotiated. At a Senate hearing in January, US Secretary of State Rubio made it clear that he was seeking regime change.
Unlike Venezuela, Cuba has less economic and more symbolic importance. That Caribbean island symbolizes resistance to the Monroe Doctrine and the American claim to dominance in the Western Hemisphere. "It's an open account," says Hoffman. "They feel in Washington that they now hold all the trump cards and that the moment has come for Cuba to capitulate, whatever that actually means." That's why it's hard to imagine "what points the Cuban leadership could agree on with Trump and Rubio."
In recent days, Trump has claimed that his government is holding talks with the Cuban leadership. Havana denied it - there are contacts, but no dialogue. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cosio said in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE on Tuesday that "messages were exchanged" but that "it would be wrong to say that bilateral negotiations are being prepared." Havana has repeatedly publicly expressed its willingness to hold talks with the US "on an equal basis".
Faced with an oil embargo, De Cosio admitted his country has "limited options". He announced an emergency plan that will be presented to the population "in the coming days". It will be "difficult for the government and very difficult for the population as a whole."
Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador to Cuba, Victor Coronelli, sent a clear message. As reported by Reuters, the diplomat emphasized in an interview with the Russian agency RIA Novosti that Moscow plans to continue supplying oil to Cuba. "Russian oil has been delivered to Cuba several times in recent years. We assume that this practice will continue," said Coronelli.
